Alberto Ibargüen is president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. With assets in excess of US$ 2.5 billion, Knight Foundation is among the larger, private foundations in the United States. Its areas of interest are journalism in a new media age and the advancement of communities in the United States.

Ibargüen is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and of El Nuevo Herald. During his tenure, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes and El Nuevo Herald won Spain’s Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism.

He studied at Wesleyan University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Between college and law school, he served in the Peace Corps in Venezuela’s Amazon Territory and was programming and training officer for the Peace Corps program in Colombia. He practiced law in Hartford, CT before beginning his newspaper career at Hartford Courant. He later he served as Executive Vice President of Newsday and New York Newsday before becoming publisher in Miami.

Ibargüen is chairman of the board of the Newseum in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the board of directors of PepsiCo, AMR (American Airlines), ProPublica, and Council on Foreign Relations. Over the years, he has served on the boards of arts, education and civic organizations, including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Wesleyan University and Smith College, and was national board chair of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Past service also includes the board of directors of Norwegian Cruise Line, Trustees Council of the National Gallery of Art and the Advisory Committee of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).